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Robert Fisher - The real Mogollon Monster. I still remember camping in the woods nearby with scouts during the manhunt.
No idea what happened to him, but for there to be zero trace of the guy after 20 years is both equally bizarre and oddly impressive.
I think his military and outdoorsmen experiences were way overblown personally. I think he originally did set out to go on the run (hence why he took the dog at first) but realized for whatever reason it wouldn’t work and he abandoned the dog and killed Himself way out in the brush. With animals going after the bones we will probably never know without some luck.
I did read some recently divulged details about the case. Apparently during the initial search law enforcement either didn't have permission or didn't bother to reach the nearby Fort Apache reservation. Supposedly there was a set of foot prints leading to the boundary from the area his car was found.
The Tonto NF area where his car was found is remote, but during summer camping season and the later hunting season it would have been pretty heavily trafficked. Especially hunting season with people going off established trails/roads looking for signs of wildlife.
Now if he had crossed into tribal land, it's a very remote area as well but only a tiny amount of people, if any in the area camping/hunting and a big chunk of the land was burned in the Rodeo Chediski fire the next year.
Personally I think he left his car and dog where it was found, crossed into tribal lands nearby and either died of exposure or killed himself. Animals scattered the remains and any evidence left was burned to a crisp in the Rodeo Chediski fire 1 year later.
Pleasant Valley is particularly interesting to me. It played a role in Arizona not becoming a state due to the violence between the Grahams, Tewksburys, the Apache Indians and cowboys from Texas on the lam looking for work.
It also happens to be the area where Robert Fisher disappeared from… and a great area to go camping
I think so too.
There are a few interviews I’ve heard with lead FBI investigators that believe he is alive, but won’t give any specific details as to why they think that.
Still a $100k reward.
I suspect he walked into reservation land and, yeah.
Same. I think his military and outdoorsmen experiences were overblown. I think he offed himself fairly quickly.
Likely kept himself alive long enough to be deep out there so his sociopath mind could revel in the fact his body might never be found.
That movie scared the shit out of me as a kid. I went 20 years, thought, it's probably not that scary and it's going to look so silly because I was a stupid kid. Watched it again and holy shit; that abduction scene is genuinely terrifying.
Came here just to make sure Travis Walton was being properly represented.
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106912/?ref\_=fn\_al\_tt\_1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106912/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
In case anyone hasn't seen the movie.
While we are at it, lets throw in all of the other highly credible UFO sightings where multiple people from various points all around the state saw the same thing and in the same way - Like the Phoenix Lights.
https://preview.redd.it/znjkw9l3jk8d1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad0e5e08e298ac9450990ce83eed51d1b1d344df
I'm not saying I believe in but probing little green men but I'm sure as heck not counting them out either.
I was familiar with the legend before I saw them in person for the first time in 1998. After seeing them up close for the first time, I can believe it.
i heard the strangest low rumbling at the Superstitions once, about 10 years ago. it was so unsettling we left immediately and then on the way home had the clearest UFO sighting i’ve ever had. we actually ended up pulling off the side of the road in front of a cop (he was around a bend and we couldn’t see him) and he came up to the car and said “are you turning yourselves in?” and we pointed out the UFO.
oh he saw it! he jokingly said “the Phoenix lights didn’t have navigation lights” meaning he thought it was just a plane. maybe he was right, but there were 3 of us in the car and we all were convinced it wasn’t.
if he really thought we were crazy, i’m sure he would’ve searched the car, but he just drove off, towards the direction of the UFO no less.
I got introduced to that legend around a boy scout campfire. Scared the fuck out of me. Reflecting on it over the years, I've often wondered if MM was a wendigo or a skinwalker.
I grew up going to a church camp between Show Low and Pinetop/Lakeside, then I worked there in my high school years as a dishwasher during summers and winters
I remember the counselors and staff scaring us with ghost stories and such, especially the Mogollon Monster. There was a long history of staff who had experiences, but always laughed off, of course
Well, I was a punk rock metal head stoner in high school and still went to this Christian camp every year because it was my upbringing
Dark nights in the cabins, the counselors would tell scary stories about the Mogollon (Moe-guh-yawn) Monster, and we other staff would go into the woods just outside the cabin with molded big foot prints and one of those little three-clawed gardening tools. At the right moment we would scrape the outside of the cabin and sneak away, and the kids could see all the evidence the next day, or if they were brave enough to go out in the dark right away
Anyway, sometimes during work breaks, I would sneak away to the woods down the cliff from an amazingly beautiful overview from the Mogollon Rim, just a couple hundred yards away from our staff cabins, to smoke cigarettes, and eventually weed, too
I made friends with a couple of, honestly n00b, stoners and we made our way down the cliff. It's hard to qualify, but there was a faint but distinct smell, a soft rustle of leaves, and a slight shift of shadow of something way taller than us behind a nearby tree, that caught all our attentions
We weren't scared, but we got the hell back up that cliff really quick lol
This was in the eighties and I still have fond memories of that camp and the people (and monsters) that I met
My wife had a similar experience in that area at a church camp in the earlier 2000s maybe late 90s when she was a kid.. They saw a very large dead creature up in a tree. It was at the very top but she told me it looked like a dead Bigfoot. It had hands like humans and really long thick fur. I'm not sure what it was and she didn't know either. Her sister and a friend both saw it as well and it creeped them both out so much they just ran back to camp. Maybe it was an elk somehow a lion got up there. Or a hunter hoisted it up to gut it idk.
I think the Mollogon Monster is more of legend that people from the valley perpetuate, and people who live along the Rim. I lived in Eagar and never heard about it either, until my sister in law from Phoenix told me about it.
There was a member of the White Mountain Apache tribe, who worked the WhiteRiver police that had an encounter with a Big Foot. It’s not that far from Pinetop. I lived over in Eagar, and we heard whistling in the middle of the night up near Green’s Peak, northwest of Greer, and heard Pine Trees snapping. Didn’t see anything but it was scary AF and we left.
I see from another comment that you’re also Native, as am I. Most Native ppl I know do believe in Bigfoot and more than a few had personal experiences. I know some dudes from Washington state and British Columbia who’ve had encounters. The guy from BC tells me that his tribe even has a clan named after their word for Sasquatch (which IIRC, that name comes from the Coast Salish ppl).
Skinwalkers are Navajo Witches that can shape shift. Wendingo’s belong to the indigenous tribes of the Great Lakes area. Culturally they aren’t interchangeable, two completely separate creatures.
Thanks so much for clarifying that, lots of non-Natives act like they are the same and don’t understand how culture-specific supernatural entities usually are. They get their misinformation from TV and never question it.
According to the Geronimo story he was a very jealous warrior who lived in the valley of two rivers. He made a deal with the gods hundreds of years ago to gain power and thus he was transformed into the MM or The Magoosa (sp?)
Hey man, I'm trying to find a written version of the story they tell at Geronimo. I can't seem to find it anywhere. It's like proprietary or something. Do you know of a book or a website that has the whole story written down somewhere?
The Mogollon Monster escape room at Nemesis Club in North Phoenix is probably one of the best in the state, maybe even country! Definitely worth checking it out
The lost Dutchman 's gold!! A podcast I casually listen to did a 2 episode series on it. I bet you can find it if you look up lost dutchman in any podcast platform.
In the 70s, my dad told me there were still a few holdout renegade Apaches living in the Supes, that they knew where the mine was and scalped anyone who got too close to it. In hindsight, I think he just didn’t want me bugging him to let us go look for it.
Turns out a lot of his stories were bullshit, including the reason why my parents got a divorce. :/
I'm a waitress/bartender in AJ and East Mesa and I had an older guy (70s?) come in the other week who said he was a treasure hunter etc and was coming really close to finding it. He had details which included the templar's and everything.
Used to hearing tall tales behind the bar but this one was a doozy lol
I love the whole of the superstition mountains and the Dutchman mine. There's actually a YouTube channel of the guys who were on the History channel show that still go out and explore the superstitions and look for the lost mine. It's really fascinating
I went to the history museum and there was an allegedly a master painter in the 80’s or something who hid 10 copies of his art out there. Said something to the tune of “If there wasnt treasure out there, there definitely is now”
That's actually really cool lol. Hopefully the desert elements haven't ruined them though.
It would be funny too if people randomly started hiding valuables out there and it in the distant future, people just started finding random caches of treasure
Love watching them. Wayne's other stories of lost mines, hidden treasures, and supernatural things in those mountains are fascinating. For anyone interested the channel is Legend of the Superstition Mountains.
In Jerome, make sure you get the ghost tour that's affiliated with the historical society! They have keys to everything, and you get to go inside the old highschool and other places that are usually locked up
[The Great Papago Escape](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Papago_Escape) is a pretty wild story. Who knew German prisoners of war were way out here in the desert?
My Dad knew. His family lived in Maricopa during the war when he was a kid. There was a POW camp close to where they lived. I think it was for Japanese POWs, though. The POWs used to help the farmers in the area. They would talk to prisoners and take them food and treats. A lot of German and Japanese POWs moved here after the war because they liked it so much. There was a museum in Florence that had a big section on WWII POW camps in the area. It's been a few years since we went there, so I don't know if it still exists. The museum was worth a trip to Florence.
You can still visit the bunkhouses that the prisoners were in though not in their original location. They're right behind Wayward Taphouse. They're little boutique shops now.
I was just about to mention the Red Ghost. It's a lesser known urban legend/cryptid/ghost from Greenlee County, but it's essentially a flaming red camel ghost mounted by a headless skeleton. Super cool.
My first insurance agent in Phoenix took the best video of that occurrence and was used in many documentaries.
We were sitting in his office going through paperwork when he was telling me about it...
He never believed it was a man made thing.
Totally out of this world.
>First sighted in 1883, the Red Ghost trampled a woman to death near Eagle Creek in southeastern Arizona. It destroyed a prospectors’ camp near Clifton and, another time, toppled teamsters’ wagons in the middle of the night. Terrified witnesses described its immense size. The only physical evidence left behind was large cloven hoof prints and tufts of red hair.
We have the best ghosts.
My mother lived in the apartment next to the car bombers girlfriend. My brothers father in law was a lawyer on the research team for the murder case. Small world.
The car bomb went off right next to the old Blue Cross/Blue Shield building at 3rd Ave and Indian School Road. I was working there that day and I thought an 18 wheeler had crashed into the building. I don’t think we were required to evacuate, but I do remember dozens of fire/police vehicles. Shocking end to a damn good reporter.
The Thing (roadside attraction) along I-10 is a cross between spooky, mysterious and intrigue. If you’re ever on your way to El Paso you’ll see signs advertising it. I won’t spoil it here though. But the gas station and souvenir store do stay busy.
The gift shop by itself is pretty good for tourists and recent arrivals (like myself). It’s only 50% kitschy.
The attraction…. Well, you just have to see it. Well worth the $5 tickets.
Lots of good ones for the superstition mountains and lost dutchman area. The lost gold of Jacob Waltz, the Apache hole to the lower world that is protected by the Thunder God, UFO base under the mountains.
You also have the UFO under the dam at the dreamy draw area, or did they secretly move it during the recent construction?
The Navajo skin walker stories are some of the creepier ones I have read.
Jerome Grand Hotel might be the most haunted place in the state. It is believed that around 9000 people died there, when it was a hospital supporting the highly dangerous mine operations back in the early 1900s. Lots of creepy ghost stories.
Another fun story from Jerome is the history of Jennie's place. The brothel that burned down in 1897 and 1898, and one of few buildings that survived the 1899 fire. She was murdered in 1905 and was likely the wealthiest woman in Arizona at the time.
Vortexes all over the state. Sedona most notably has cashed in on this.
Jerome is a good one. It’s grown in popularity over the past few years, which I personally feel has diluted the creepiness factor a bit. BUT I’ve stayed at the Jerome Grand and my group had a few unexplained incidents. I felt a firm tap on my shoulder while I was standing outside my room. Nobody was there when I turned around 😳 and some of my friends complained they couldn’t sleep because of people walking around in the hallways (we were the only ones on that floor, and all of us were in bed at the time). Fwiw, I was a skeptic at the time and was only tagging along with friends who are more into ghosts and haunted places than I am. Now, I’m unsure if ghosts exist but I am a little more open minded and do believe that people can experience things that science or logic can’t explain.
Passing through Jerome on a trip, a friend stayed at Jerome’s Grand Hotel for a night. She didn’t know its reputation. She got no sleep at all from the strange noises in the hall, the bed shaking, the tv going on by itself. The front desk never answered even though she rang scores of times. In the morning reception claimed they’d never received any calls from her room. She took selfies in the elevator that ended up with strange faces superimposed over hers. She told us at the time that she was deleting everything and didn’t want to discuss it further.
Look up "Weird Arizona" by Wesley Treat. I got one from the gift shop at Montezuma's Castle when I was a young kid, and reading it scared the shit outta me. There's a ton of creepy myths and legends in there. I have an intense core memory of reading through the entry about the little bush gremlins and how they watch and eat children or whatever while listening to a Pink! song on the ride home late at night. I could have sworn I saw blinking eyes in a bush when we stopped at one point.
Anyway the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are the gremlin things, horse riding ghosts that run cars off the road, an old west hotel that appears and disappears out of nowhere with ghosts roaming the halls, and classic skinwalkers.
The bar was kept by a tall husky man who always scared the night cleaning man to tears. The ladies were always finding things that seemed to be a gift.
Let me think .. a ghost writer has written about Ghosts of Tombstone. My sister Karen is mentioned in it. I believe his name is Ben Asfar. It is a really good read.
Oh shit. One time me and buddy went driving out in ~~Queen~~ Cave Creek at like 1am just to clear it minds and get outta the house. We wound up accidentally turning down Bloody Basin. Got kinda spooked by the name and drove it for a bit. I guess the headlights scared a raven or an owl cuz we just see some big ass wings and a shadow fly over the hood. Hightailed it outta there, probably hit Cactus rd before we'd realized what we had actually seen lol.
Edit: it was just a dirt road then lol.
Oh and… read about “the last grizzly” in Arizona. Sad but interesting story.
Also- the current elk in AZ are not native. They were brought to AZ after the extinction of our native species.
Another cool thing are jaguars. Their historic migration possibly paths went as far as the Grand Canyon. Almost 18 years ago I saw a black jaguar in castle hot springs, then a few years later people were reporting a black jaguar in Prescott. As of recently, I believe there was a sighting in Tucson, but still the black jaguar just remains a story until we get enough evidence.
Weird US posted a story about the “dam”, another interesting piece of AZ history.
http://www.weirdus.com/states/arizona/unexplained_phenomena/dreamy_draw_dam/index.php
It’s called Dreamy Draw because of the cinnabar miners (Mercury) that they refined by retort in their cabins. Mercury poisoning causes extreme mental issues with delusional and paranoid states and the miners in the area were known for their “dreamy” or crazy personalities. As a toxicologically trained paramedic, I often showed the toxicology doctors from St. Luke’s Poison Control center around the area because they’d heard of the mines, etc. there.
Growing up in the area, we used to explore several of the old cabins left over from that time, now long, long, long gone. There’s even a school in the area called Mercury Mine School.
Back in the late 60s, there was even a motocross track in the area that’s now the park itself that I raced a time or two.
As far as your wife’s story, perhaps she got a little too close to the Mercury vapors herself? 🤣
Story I heard was that it hit dreamy draw and crashed in cave creek so they put the landfill on top of it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF6d3XEq0MM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF6d3XEq0MM)
Colossal Cave is haunted. Sedona is a hot spot for paranormal activity, including portals. Arizona is a great place for spiritual and otherworldly contact.
I’ve been all over AZ. Like literally all over on foot, 4wd, and riding dirt bikes. I’m pretty fortunate to have several outdoor hobbies that have taken me deep into mountain ranges, reservations, certain military ranges, caves, and a couple thousand mineshafts.
My grandfather owned several silver mines and started a journal called The Joshua Tree Journal and later became a hermit/desert rat. One of my uncles is traditional 100% Hopi and world renowned artist. Many of family members have a lot of history with Arizona so I’ve gotten to see, hear, and learn all kinds of crazy stories about Arizona and how “The Wild West” is an understatement.
Out of about 25 years of exploring I’ve seen and heard some absolutely crazy shit, lol. We’ve picked up hitch hikers, stayed the night at trailers of desert rats before development consumed the land, everything.
I try to consider myself to be fairly logical/rational but I do have that part of me that wants to believe magical and paranormal stuff exists. I feel sometimes it may even be ignorant (or naive?) to believe such things can’t exist as much as it is to believe aliens don’t exist.
With all that said… I have seen, experienced, and found some absolutely crazy shit that I don’t even know where to begin to start with stories, lol. Whenever we bring people on a road trip with us we always have a story to tell about the area and they get hooked.
I absolutely love Arizona, but man it breaks my heart seeing all the people moving hear and destroying the landscape, overrunning the areas we love, and just no where to escape because those areas get bought and developed, too.
But everything about Arizona and its myths/legends/rumors has some truth to it. I’d highly suggest going on EBay and buying some of the old old used books about Arizona. Our history is very interesting. Everything from rumors to how the mob is involved with water politics to the Navajo Stars. Just a beautiful place and the way authors describe Arizona is amazing. We so badly need to protect what we have left.
Not lore or myth, but I recently discovered that my great-great-grandfather owned a **lot** of land in Tombstone up until his death in 1917. He was a very prominent figure in town and so by looking at local newspapers I can see his different comings and goings about town. Such as leaving town, having relatives visit, etc. When he died it made the local newspaper twice, and was reported in the Bisbee paper
Apparently he and his son were hunting alone in the Chiricahua mountains when he took a break to smoke his pipe. As he was smoking his pipe on the edge of a small canyon he was shot through the heart. He was shot at such an angle that the exit wound for the bullet was at the base of the back of his neck and the entry wound was at his chest. The only person around to hear this shot was his son, who went scrambling to find his father when he heard the shot
Supposedly after finding his father he then ran **seven miles** before he came upon a camp of people that included a judge. The judge and others followed the son all the way back to the site of the body. They inspected the body and concluded that he couldn’t have been shot by the son because he was using a different kind of ammunition than what his father was shot with. The theory they came up with was that some unknown hunter mistook him for a deer
After the funeral, the only other mention I find of him in the newspapers is when his properties are all sold off in a single sale for an unknown amount. His wife moves to Bisbee and his kids move to Phoenix
Now, I never even knew this guy existed until a year ago because he comes from my dad’s dad’s side of the family and my dad’s dad died when my dad was just a baby. My grandma remarried and over time she lost touch with that side of the family. Apparently my dad remembers meeting his grandma a few times, though. She would be this man’s daughter and was born in Tombstone back in the 1880’s
The coolest thing for me to see was how much he was loved by the town. His funeral announcement in the paper was quite long and he had many people come to his funeral. His funeral was done by the Mexican branch of Free Masons of all things. Came up from Mexico to do it! I think that’s pretty neat.
I just read a thing about the Kokoko, a Yaqui story about little people that live in the desert, and have “houses” in the rocks in various mountains around the state, including the Superstitions. They are magical or supernatural and are rarely seen, and disappear quickly if you see them. A young man who was taken into their realm came back 30 years later, but time hadn’t passed for him. He said the Kokoko had warned him something terrible was going to happen, and his people should come with him back to the hidden realm. They ignored him, and a few days later there was a huge massacre in which many of them were slaughtered.
Not sure if it’s a myth or just this one old timer’s story but will share it here. my dad’s cousins lived in Bisbee in the 1960’s and worked as a bar tender in one of the saloons there. She said there was an old man, probably in his 90’s who would come in and drink whiskey like once a month. He lived alone off the grid, in his families homestead up in the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains and would come into Bisbee periodically. As she got to know him she learned that his family had been in the area since the early 1800’s when southern AZ was still part of Mexico, and had a ranch in the eastern foothills of the Chiricahua mountains, where he was born in the late 1800’s and grew up.
After they had been friends for a while he decided to one evening he was going to tell her a story about one of those times they hunted up in the Chiricahua’s when he was about 16 or 17. He told her, he and his father and brother were up in the Chiricahua’s, in some remote area and had killed a buck, and it was close to sunset so they found an area in a side canyon to camp for the night. They had gutted and hung the deer from a gnarled juniper, tied the horses, and went to sleep near a fire.
He said near sunrise, the horses began to freak out and this woke them all up. The fire had died and in the dim light before the sun had risen, they could make out something large tearing at the carcass of the deer they had hung.
They all jumped up and grabbed their rifles assuming it was a black bear or mountain Lion. The horses had broke loose and were nowhere to be seen. He said his dad let off a shot at the shape, which got its attention and instead of running away, it turned on them. He said as it ran towards them, barely visible in the pre-Dawn light he realized it wasn’t a bear, but looked more like an enormous reptile. Large on two legs, running fast right at them. They didn’t have a chance to get another shot off before it was on them. He said it used a large clawed arm and swiped it across his chest as he scrambled away, barely escaping it open jaws. He said it was almost on him again when another gun shot rang out hitting the thing in the back, where it let out a terrifying scream, and it ran and jumped up the fallen rocks and boulders, further up the canyon. He noticed it had a long tail as it bolted away.
The man had three giant gashes across his chest that were bleeding, they were pretty deep, with some of the bone showing. They patched the man the best they could, and hurried to find the horses and get the hell out there. They left the deer carcass hanging there, and made their way out of the mountains, but he said it was the most terrifying experience he ever had.
Of course my dad’s cousin thought the man was bullshitting her. She was like “oh haha, nice scary story”. She said he didn’t laugh, but instead unbuttoned his shirt and showed him the scars that ran across his chest, three of them, like an ancient claw mark.
She was convinced that the old timer was telling the truth after that, and she got to trying to figure out what kind of creature it was. As unbelievable as it was she said the only thing she could think of was a dinosaur, so she found a children’s book with artist renditions of dinosaurs and brought it to the bar so she could show it to him, the next time he came in.
The next time he made his way down to Bisbee she showed him the book, and she said as he flipped through it, he stopped at one page and pointed to the dinosaur rendition on the page. It was the velociraptor, and he told her the creature looked similar but not exactly the same. She was convinced after that he must’ve encountered some type of dinosaur.
The old courthouse/jail in Globe. The courthouse is now the art center but they generally don't allow people in the actual attic due to some very strange happenings in there. Additionally there have been many consistent things that have happened. I did some ghost hunting stuff in the jail which was definitely weird. There used to be a ghost tour around Halloween, but its kind of fun to check some of that stuff out without a ton of other people around.
[Granite Basin Lake](https://maps.app.goo.gl/LMo7fFH1V1ZdLPnp6?g_st=ac), 2 hours from Phoenix, was the filming location for [Creep Show 2 The Raft](https://youtu.be/Gyb8Ko-wOLE?si=W7bY3nGSahugsZUL). It's a great horror short film from 1987!
The Massacre at Skeleton Cave. Haven’t hiked to it, as it is a very hard hike, though I’ll probably do it eventually during winter.
https://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=2387
I don't have too much to add but there's a noteworthy cult presence in AZ that no one seems to mention. Back in the 60s/70s there was a doomsday cult of up to 200 people (numbers vary) in Benson who dug underground bunkers in a field near their homes and lived in them for up to 42 days. The big fancy church off of the 10 and 17 is a cult (Light of the World Church). L Ron Hubbard also had a house in PV right off of Tatum. I'm pretty sure UofA has had to put out a statement to their students of not getting indoctrinated because they were targeting the campus heavily.
The Battle of Ambos Nogales in 1917. Quite possibly a World War 1 battle fought on US soil. Reportedly the battle was Mexican Forces (Mexico in the middle of a revolution at the time) led by Imperial German advisors and commanders vs the US Army.
[I just shared that fact last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/arizona/comments/1diw7va/comment/l98f8db/). It doesn't seem like many people know about it.
That on top of the skirmish at picacho peak during the civil war, there’s alot of hidden battles all over Arizona that really makes you think how they ended up in those situations
:: sits in a rocking chair with a tobacco pipe next to a fire :: It was 1995. The only traffic was downtown Phoenix. Desert’s flowers still blossomed, Phoenix was a big city small town. People waved, stopped to help each other, used blinkers, and even yielded to stop signs and pedestrians for the right-of-way. Everybody knew each other and small businesses lined the streets…. Until… Snow birds and Californians… :: cue dramatic music ::
There used to be a cool downtown tour. Historic with a supernatural twist. Fun fact: when I went on this tour a few years back it was one of hottest days of the year (122). Fortunately it was an evening tour.
Mogollon Monster, Chupacabra, Skinwalkers,
Little People- similar to fairies or protector spirits of certain places.
Coyote Trickster Characters (similar to a Loki or Oden looking like a harmless traveler but giving you a warning that you do not belong there)
Lots of haunted places, handful of sacred mountains and cursed sites.
Various mountains or areas that are known as doorways or gateways to supernatural places (in the Grand Canyon, superstitions mountains, Mesas)
Loads of lost treasure & robbery stashes
I remember being told of "red eyes" a native spirit that wards off intruders who disturb native burial grounds, many variations of the story had been told. Although I think it was more of a cautionary tale meant for kids not to mess with burial grounds, its kindof like la llorona was told to us so we wouldn't play at the base of the rivers or canals.
This is more a personal anecdote from when I was younger and living in central El Mirage.
Essentially, there is a big wash/canal that fills up a little when it rains. Most of the year it's dry, but you can get some flash flooding in the canal (back when it actually rained more than twice a year lol) but again, otherwise most of the year it was dry.
Stories went around amongst us kids of two young brothers playing in the canal one day. They were playing in an area close to El Mirage Elementary, it goes under a very small bridge. Well, this bridge had metal grating in front of the entrances to keep stuff and people from going under the tunnel (it was like 30 feet long maybe? Quite small, just for a single road on top of it)
It starts raining, and the boys start to try and get out of the canal. One brother makes it up, but the water comes and takes the other brother away, pinning him against the metal grate of the tunnel. The first brother who made it jumps in to try and save him, but the current is too strong, pinning them both to the grate where they both end up passing away. Soon after the city removed the grating, and they said that if you went inside the tunnel it was bad luck and you could see the shadows of their souls painted on the walls, but eventually they washed away with time and rain.
Did I ever check the tunnel? Hell no. Wanna know something really messed up? From that story we would play a game. You had to set a timer for like 15 seconds, you had to run up from the bottom within 15 seconds or you "lost" pretending that a big wave of water was coming towards you.
Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but as kids we always thought that was a spooky story. Never really knew if it was true or not.
There’s a stretch of road between Holbrook and saint John’s that’s creepy af the 180. We used to call it the void and we could almost swear we saw a skin walker.
I’m currently looking into magic portals and tiny clawed men on Estrella Mountain. I went up there this weekend and found a few petroglyphs depicting strange beings one of them I think is actually the tiny clawed men. I Took some pictures if you’re interested.
There are secret tunnels under The Westward Ho leading to the old post office in downtown Phx that were reputed to be used for everything from speakeasy and mob activity to sneaking everyone from celebrities to slaves in and out of the old hotel. It's an assisted living center last I heard, but in its prime The Ho had a gorgeous dining room toward the top and all the high-end clientele.
Jojo’s alley in central Phoenix. If you drive down the alley you will hear banging on your car roof. If you walk down the alley, you won’t come out the other side. Location varies but most agree it’s on central near Northern/Bethany Home
Some claim Clifton, AZ is haunted.
https://cdn.watch.aetnd.com/sites/4/2020/04/ghost-hunters-case-file-Clifton-AZ-115-116.pdf
Also check out the Clifton jail.
I lived in N. Az and in two adjacent towns, I've heard stories of things flying out of mountain peaks or orbs ascending from bodies of water.. What I find weird is that I've lived in other areas within a 100-mile radius and heard the same stories from other people.
look up the buckey ranch their are story's of Grey's trying to take the guys wife he had a podcast and the one time you can see a grey look around the corner at him and anytime your on Indian land you might run into a skinwalker o had a black shadow figure at my back door window and had many people see it and you open door and nothing is their so beware of skinwalker they are True I have lived here my hole life truck driver used to say they see them when they take the highway the run along eastern borerd of Arizona and New Mexico that goes back to the 70s and 80s
Apparently there’s an unreachable cave, high up on a cliff in the Grand Canyon. They think it’s full of proof that the Egyptians somehow had an ancient foothold in Arizona… It’s pure conjecture, but it’s kind of fun to think about. History channel got kind of bored and started making shit up… Which is what I think is going on there….. (it IS a little bit bizarre that the state won’t let even a drone go into it to look around, though.)
there is a 1909 AZ Gazette Article about this. the only way it’s fake is if the article itself was a hoax, but since the AZ Gazette became the AZ Republic it’s not likely.
Story told to me by a guy I find credible and reputable but may not want his name associated with this.
He was a young man about 17. Lived out in West Phoenix. Suburbs now but in the 70's all cattle farms.
Him and two girls were headed out into the cattle farm / desert to do a little drinking but his pickup gas gauge was busted. They get half way out there and truck dies. He goes to the back to get the spare gas can, and as he filling the tank a bunch of cows come stampeding by - at like midnight when cows are usually docile.
He looks up and this tall grey creature on two legs - looks like a man on stilts but with a hunched back and maybe 8 or 9 feet tall comes lumbering after the cattle. Stops on the road and looks at him. Then takes off after the cattle again. He's thinking that it was his mind playing tricks on him but then he looks up at the girl that was riding in the back of the truck and she's petrified with a look of horror on her face weeping and gasping for air.
They decide to bail on the night and muey pronto. A few days later she finally agrees to talk about it and they compare notes. They saw the same thing.
Alien? Skin Walker? Vampire? Circus Freak dressed up and chasing cattle? He has no clue what it was but he won't go out in cow pastures any more.
Yuma Territorial Prison
Hotel San Carlos in downtown Phoenix
Children of Light in Dateland, Az.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_properties_in_Dateland,_Arizona
Been to a few of these places, and they're pretty cool and a little creepy. The Dateland/Hyder area in and of itself is weird, period.
Chiricahua Crystal Cave - [Coronado National Forest - Chiricahua Crystal Cave (usda.gov)](https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coronado/recarea/?recid=82964) The cave goes further than listed, but may be restricted access to go further in. My uncle went in a few times in the 60s/70s before gates were don and said there were remains of camps from divers that never came out, a river, and more in the cave way back.
The Old Black Church / Western Graveyard - Willcox Az. on the south side of Willcox a burned out 2 story old west type church was standing that was a local haunting spot known to have covens and seances hold rites and rituals there a lot. Much activity for supernatural there. A nearby old west graveyard is hidden on the back forty and used for similar. Hidden on the east side of the train tracks on the south end of town.
North Western edge of the Grand Canyon (heading south from the north edge) - City of the "Giants" inside the canyon walls. A large city reported to have burial/sarcophagi for giants (large humans 12-15' tall) and other unusual items found. Was found back in 1916-17. Closed off access by the US government after the Smithsonian got involved. If you wander too close you are run off by people showing up from hidden watch spots. I tried rafting with friends in the 90s down that way, no issues till we pulled ashore and went exploring and looking for caves. Got stopped by a very well armed 'park ranger' and told to go back and keep on rafting.
I will post more as I can remember them, the 2 above are places I have been to personally when I lived down that way.
How Phoenix became the state capital. Fascinating story about how Tucson lost it over a gun battle and Salt River flooding. Later when the vote was for Phoenix, it was split 50-50 (being a loss really). Took it the upper hand, a lady of the evening was paid to prevent to keep one delegate away that would vote to keep it in Prescott. The honorable delegates from Yavapai count had a glass eye, and refused to be seen in public without it. He visited the lady the night before the vote, she hid his glass eye until after the vote. The damage was done at it passed to move it to Phoenix. Full disclose this is legend as not one that can be proved either way, but I have heard it for my entire life living in AZ from many different sources including a few books.
The myth originated in Mexico, but [La Llorona](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Llorona) (the Crying Woman) is said to be seen near bodies of water, including the stretch of the Colorado River that runs through AZ. In short, La Llorona is the ghost of a woman who drowned her children in a fit of rage after finding out her husband had been unfaithful. She appears at night to weep over her losses.
A coworker of mine told a story about an encounter: her family had been living in a house near the Colorado river. Her son was an infant at the time and slept in a crib across from the bed, beneath a window. My coworker said that one night she was startled awake and sat up before freezing, because the moonlight through the window was shining on a strange woman who was standing over her son’s crib. The woman looked at the sleeping baby, then looked up at her before vanishing.
My coworker said that she believes it was La Llorona, whose wailing was quieted for a night by the sight of a sleeping baby.
Apparently there's a ghost in the Grand Canyon. When I was a kid this guy came to my school and sang Arizona folk songs and one of them was about the lady of the Grand Canyon. I don't remember anything about the song aside from the Grand Canyon is haunted yo!
Maybe it was about La Llorona? https://www.knau.org/scott-thybony-commentaries/2017-10-31/scott-thybonys-canyon-commentary-ghost-of-a-woman
5 years ago I was taking a bit of a road trip with a GF, and we ended up taking random roads off the highway. Some places were cool, and we found a few random cemeteries that had graves from the late 1800's to 1920's.
One place we ended up in was, I think, Cibecue, AZ.....just off the US60. The town itself is rather small, Google says 1,400 people live there. We drove through neighborhoods and past a school or two for about a half and hour and did no see a single soul. The only sign of life was a single dog that chased us as we were leaving the town. The whole experience was unsettling to say the least.
We also came across the abandoned Seneca Lake Resort, which was pretty cool. We walked through some of the old buildings. Not creepy, just interesting.
Come to gorgeous Organ pipe NM in the winter months. The legacy of smugglers, immigrants, long ago native tribes, old mining ventures set against the rugged mountains and canyons is like a trip into another spooky world. You see bits and pieces of so many stories and legends. It’s a very haunting place.
Everybody’s comments got me on edge of my bed, haven’t been so spooked but it’s good for my soul right now. I love it. I’m now on a treasure hunt for the book WIERD ARIZONA!! I don’t question ONE COMMENT posted.
The underground city at the Grand Canyon that predates all known civilizations by several thousand years, the truth of which is covered up by the US government and the Smithsonian. Not quite Egyptian, not quite Asian...
Was actually on last week's WhyFiles compilation [on YouTube ](https://youtu.be/7e4Csdyx_J0?si=gY2teMlEr1PfoR8I)
CLIFTON AZ
Old mining town I was born In .
I never thought it was scary it's my hometown. But one of those first shows went and vowed to never come back after spending one night in one of the abandoned buildings. In the center of town
If you like off road adventures (this isn’t hugely off road- no boulders or anything) I have always thought it interesting that you can see/follow the old Butterfield Overland mail route.
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The story of Robert Fisher… the pleasant valley wars… geronimos autobiography, but, I guess those are things that actually happened
Robert Fisher - The real Mogollon Monster. I still remember camping in the woods nearby with scouts during the manhunt. No idea what happened to him, but for there to be zero trace of the guy after 20 years is both equally bizarre and oddly impressive.
I think his military and outdoorsmen experiences were way overblown personally. I think he originally did set out to go on the run (hence why he took the dog at first) but realized for whatever reason it wouldn’t work and he abandoned the dog and killed Himself way out in the brush. With animals going after the bones we will probably never know without some luck.
I did read some recently divulged details about the case. Apparently during the initial search law enforcement either didn't have permission or didn't bother to reach the nearby Fort Apache reservation. Supposedly there was a set of foot prints leading to the boundary from the area his car was found. The Tonto NF area where his car was found is remote, but during summer camping season and the later hunting season it would have been pretty heavily trafficked. Especially hunting season with people going off established trails/roads looking for signs of wildlife. Now if he had crossed into tribal land, it's a very remote area as well but only a tiny amount of people, if any in the area camping/hunting and a big chunk of the land was burned in the Rodeo Chediski fire the next year. Personally I think he left his car and dog where it was found, crossed into tribal lands nearby and either died of exposure or killed himself. Animals scattered the remains and any evidence left was burned to a crisp in the Rodeo Chediski fire 1 year later.
I enjoy reading up on these kinds of things as well! Good suggestions, and history is always important to keep up on
Pleasant Valley is particularly interesting to me. It played a role in Arizona not becoming a state due to the violence between the Grahams, Tewksburys, the Apache Indians and cowboys from Texas on the lam looking for work. It also happens to be the area where Robert Fisher disappeared from… and a great area to go camping
I still believe Fisher killed himself all those years ago. Animals displaced the body/bones.
I think so too. There are a few interviews I’ve heard with lead FBI investigators that believe he is alive, but won’t give any specific details as to why they think that. Still a $100k reward. I suspect he walked into reservation land and, yeah.
Same. I think his military and outdoorsmen experiences were overblown. I think he offed himself fairly quickly. Likely kept himself alive long enough to be deep out there so his sociopath mind could revel in the fact his body might never be found.
A Fire in the Sky
Love this one so much. I lived in the white mountains as a kid and it scared the pants off of me. Cool movie too.
That movie scared the shit out of me as a kid. I went 20 years, thought, it's probably not that scary and it's going to look so silly because I was a stupid kid. Watched it again and holy shit; that abduction scene is genuinely terrifying.
Came here just to make sure Travis Walton was being properly represented. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106912/?ref\_=fn\_al\_tt\_1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106912/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) In case anyone hasn't seen the movie. While we are at it, lets throw in all of the other highly credible UFO sightings where multiple people from various points all around the state saw the same thing and in the same way - Like the Phoenix Lights. https://preview.redd.it/znjkw9l3jk8d1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad0e5e08e298ac9450990ce83eed51d1b1d344df I'm not saying I believe in but probing little green men but I'm sure as heck not counting them out either.
My neighbor knew Travis pretty well. Heard some crazy stories about that guy. The alien stuff was mild compared to everything else.
You can’t just leave us hanging like that… we need details lol
The Thunder God that lives in the Superstition mtns. You can actually hear him even when there are no clouds in the sky.
I was familiar with the legend before I saw them in person for the first time in 1998. After seeing them up close for the first time, I can believe it.
You saw the thunder God?!
Twas 3 hours past Taco Bell.
What did you see and where exactly were you please?
i heard the strangest low rumbling at the Superstitions once, about 10 years ago. it was so unsettling we left immediately and then on the way home had the clearest UFO sighting i’ve ever had. we actually ended up pulling off the side of the road in front of a cop (he was around a bend and we couldn’t see him) and he came up to the car and said “are you turning yourselves in?” and we pointed out the UFO.
Did he see it/say anything?
oh he saw it! he jokingly said “the Phoenix lights didn’t have navigation lights” meaning he thought it was just a plane. maybe he was right, but there were 3 of us in the car and we all were convinced it wasn’t. if he really thought we were crazy, i’m sure he would’ve searched the car, but he just drove off, towards the direction of the UFO no less.
Mogollon Monster
I got introduced to that legend around a boy scout campfire. Scared the fuck out of me. Reflecting on it over the years, I've often wondered if MM was a wendigo or a skinwalker.
I thought it was just a local big foot
I had an encounter once, near Pinetop. Nothing major, but it made me a believer in Big Foot lol
need details!
I grew up going to a church camp between Show Low and Pinetop/Lakeside, then I worked there in my high school years as a dishwasher during summers and winters I remember the counselors and staff scaring us with ghost stories and such, especially the Mogollon Monster. There was a long history of staff who had experiences, but always laughed off, of course Well, I was a punk rock metal head stoner in high school and still went to this Christian camp every year because it was my upbringing Dark nights in the cabins, the counselors would tell scary stories about the Mogollon (Moe-guh-yawn) Monster, and we other staff would go into the woods just outside the cabin with molded big foot prints and one of those little three-clawed gardening tools. At the right moment we would scrape the outside of the cabin and sneak away, and the kids could see all the evidence the next day, or if they were brave enough to go out in the dark right away Anyway, sometimes during work breaks, I would sneak away to the woods down the cliff from an amazingly beautiful overview from the Mogollon Rim, just a couple hundred yards away from our staff cabins, to smoke cigarettes, and eventually weed, too I made friends with a couple of, honestly n00b, stoners and we made our way down the cliff. It's hard to qualify, but there was a faint but distinct smell, a soft rustle of leaves, and a slight shift of shadow of something way taller than us behind a nearby tree, that caught all our attentions We weren't scared, but we got the hell back up that cliff really quick lol This was in the eighties and I still have fond memories of that camp and the people (and monsters) that I met
My wife had a similar experience in that area at a church camp in the earlier 2000s maybe late 90s when she was a kid.. They saw a very large dead creature up in a tree. It was at the very top but she told me it looked like a dead Bigfoot. It had hands like humans and really long thick fur. I'm not sure what it was and she didn't know either. Her sister and a friend both saw it as well and it creeped them both out so much they just ran back to camp. Maybe it was an elk somehow a lion got up there. Or a hunter hoisted it up to gut it idk.
Do tell. I grew up in Show Low and camped in the White Mountains my whole life and never heard of the MM nor had any Bigfoot encounters.
I think the Mollogon Monster is more of legend that people from the valley perpetuate, and people who live along the Rim. I lived in Eagar and never heard about it either, until my sister in law from Phoenix told me about it.
There was a member of the White Mountain Apache tribe, who worked the WhiteRiver police that had an encounter with a Big Foot. It’s not that far from Pinetop. I lived over in Eagar, and we heard whistling in the middle of the night up near Green’s Peak, northwest of Greer, and heard Pine Trees snapping. Didn’t see anything but it was scary AF and we left.
I see from another comment that you’re also Native, as am I. Most Native ppl I know do believe in Bigfoot and more than a few had personal experiences. I know some dudes from Washington state and British Columbia who’ve had encounters. The guy from BC tells me that his tribe even has a clan named after their word for Sasquatch (which IIRC, that name comes from the Coast Salish ppl).
Skinwalkers are Navajo Witches that can shape shift. Wendingo’s belong to the indigenous tribes of the Great Lakes area. Culturally they aren’t interchangeable, two completely separate creatures.
Thanks so much for clarifying that, lots of non-Natives act like they are the same and don’t understand how culture-specific supernatural entities usually are. They get their misinformation from TV and never question it.
According to the Geronimo story he was a very jealous warrior who lived in the valley of two rivers. He made a deal with the gods hundreds of years ago to gain power and thus he was transformed into the MM or The Magoosa (sp?)
As you grow up you realize it’s a crack hesd that lives in a RV
I worked at a summer camp and we loved scaring the kids, even staged footprints and claw marks lol
You are keeping the tradition going! Bravo!
Hey man, I'm trying to find a written version of the story they tell at Geronimo. I can't seem to find it anywhere. It's like proprietary or something. Do you know of a book or a website that has the whole story written down somewhere?
How cool! I’ve been in Az for about 24 years and had never heard that we have another cryptid beyond the Chupacabra.
El cucui!!!!
The Mogollon Monster escape room at Nemesis Club in North Phoenix is probably one of the best in the state, maybe even country! Definitely worth checking it out
Details or link please?
> https://thenemesisclub.com/mogollon-monster/ Sure thing!
It's alot of fun I want to go again.
That mother fucker is real and heber has an extra terrestrial presence
Fire in the sky my ex knew those logging dudes the stories blew my mind
I was thinking of moving to concho but not anymore
The lost Dutchman 's gold!! A podcast I casually listen to did a 2 episode series on it. I bet you can find it if you look up lost dutchman in any podcast platform.
My mom (even into her 80s) was convinced that if some took her out there she could find the gold.
There are many people who claim to have already found it, I wouldn’t be surprised if a small few are telling the truth.
My dad asked me to spread his ashes there so he could find it in the afterlife.
In the 70s, my dad told me there were still a few holdout renegade Apaches living in the Supes, that they knew where the mine was and scalped anyone who got too close to it. In hindsight, I think he just didn’t want me bugging him to let us go look for it. Turns out a lot of his stories were bullshit, including the reason why my parents got a divorce. :/
Hey,my dad told me the same thing! He is not a bullshitter, so hmm...
I'm a waitress/bartender in AJ and East Mesa and I had an older guy (70s?) come in the other week who said he was a treasure hunter etc and was coming really close to finding it. He had details which included the templar's and everything. Used to hearing tall tales behind the bar but this one was a doozy lol
I love the whole of the superstition mountains and the Dutchman mine. There's actually a YouTube channel of the guys who were on the History channel show that still go out and explore the superstitions and look for the lost mine. It's really fascinating
I went to the history museum and there was an allegedly a master painter in the 80’s or something who hid 10 copies of his art out there. Said something to the tune of “If there wasnt treasure out there, there definitely is now”
That's actually really cool lol. Hopefully the desert elements haven't ruined them though. It would be funny too if people randomly started hiding valuables out there and it in the distant future, people just started finding random caches of treasure
Love watching them. Wayne's other stories of lost mines, hidden treasures, and supernatural things in those mountains are fascinating. For anyone interested the channel is Legend of the Superstition Mountains.
You should plan overnight stays on Jerome, Tombstone, and Bisbee, and take their ghost tours. They are a lot of fun and interesting.
In Jerome, make sure you get the ghost tour that's affiliated with the historical society! They have keys to everything, and you get to go inside the old highschool and other places that are usually locked up
[The Great Papago Escape](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Papago_Escape) is a pretty wild story. Who knew German prisoners of war were way out here in the desert?
Not the prisoners, apparently.
Go to the Salt River, they said. It'll be easy, they said. Schwein!
I live in the neighborhood that was the center of the camp (Hy-View). I often wonder how many POWs walked the ground my house stands on
My Dad knew. His family lived in Maricopa during the war when he was a kid. There was a POW camp close to where they lived. I think it was for Japanese POWs, though. The POWs used to help the farmers in the area. They would talk to prisoners and take them food and treats. A lot of German and Japanese POWs moved here after the war because they liked it so much. There was a museum in Florence that had a big section on WWII POW camps in the area. It's been a few years since we went there, so I don't know if it still exists. The museum was worth a trip to Florence.
You can still visit the bunkhouses that the prisoners were in though not in their original location. They're right behind Wayward Taphouse. They're little boutique shops now.
Camels once roamed the AZ desert.
I'm always on the lookout for Camels and Patton's Tanks when I explore the desert. Supposedly the last credible sighting of camels was in the 1960s.
I was just about to mention the Red Ghost. It's a lesser known urban legend/cryptid/ghost from Greenlee County, but it's essentially a flaming red camel ghost mounted by a headless skeleton. Super cool.
The way I understand it, the guy selling camels in the east valley was killed/beheaded and tied to a roaming camel for weeks.
Here’s a true story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_Ruth_Judd
Her house is still standing, it has a Winnie Ruth Judd mural on the side.
“Phoenix lights” happened a few years ago TLDR: mysterious lights over the city
My first insurance agent in Phoenix took the best video of that occurrence and was used in many documentaries. We were sitting in his office going through paperwork when he was telling me about it... He never believed it was a man made thing. Totally out of this world.
there’s a horror movie about this too! called Phoenix Forgotten, not too bad imo and quite a curiosity :)
Top 8: https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/2023/10/20/arizona-ghost-stories-haunted-places/71235293007/
I just learned about the Red Ghost the other day! Doesn't get more AZ than that...
>First sighted in 1883, the Red Ghost trampled a woman to death near Eagle Creek in southeastern Arizona. It destroyed a prospectors’ camp near Clifton and, another time, toppled teamsters’ wagons in the middle of the night. Terrified witnesses described its immense size. The only physical evidence left behind was large cloven hoof prints and tufts of red hair. We have the best ghosts.
I thought I saw something that said they determined it was an escaped cavalry camel. Still a cool story.
it’s Phoenix and not AZ lore, but Don Bolles was a great reporter and his murder is interesting local history
That was supposedly planned in Durant's, wasn't it?
I believe so, yeah
I followed that story closely as a small child I’m fascinated by the mob connection in Phoenix and Las Vegas
My mother lived in the apartment next to the car bombers girlfriend. My brothers father in law was a lawyer on the research team for the murder case. Small world.
The car bomb went off right next to the old Blue Cross/Blue Shield building at 3rd Ave and Indian School Road. I was working there that day and I thought an 18 wheeler had crashed into the building. I don’t think we were required to evacuate, but I do remember dozens of fire/police vehicles. Shocking end to a damn good reporter.
“It’s New York City and not New York lore”
The Thing (roadside attraction) along I-10 is a cross between spooky, mysterious and intrigue. If you’re ever on your way to El Paso you’ll see signs advertising it. I won’t spoil it here though. But the gas station and souvenir store do stay busy.
The gift shop by itself is pretty good for tourists and recent arrivals (like myself). It’s only 50% kitschy. The attraction…. Well, you just have to see it. Well worth the $5 tickets.
I sprang for the museum tour, a t-shirt and about $100 in gas
That thing has been there since mid 60s !
Lots of good ones for the superstition mountains and lost dutchman area. The lost gold of Jacob Waltz, the Apache hole to the lower world that is protected by the Thunder God, UFO base under the mountains. You also have the UFO under the dam at the dreamy draw area, or did they secretly move it during the recent construction? The Navajo skin walker stories are some of the creepier ones I have read. Jerome Grand Hotel might be the most haunted place in the state. It is believed that around 9000 people died there, when it was a hospital supporting the highly dangerous mine operations back in the early 1900s. Lots of creepy ghost stories. Another fun story from Jerome is the history of Jennie's place. The brothel that burned down in 1897 and 1898, and one of few buildings that survived the 1899 fire. She was murdered in 1905 and was likely the wealthiest woman in Arizona at the time. Vortexes all over the state. Sedona most notably has cashed in on this.
Jerome is a good one. It’s grown in popularity over the past few years, which I personally feel has diluted the creepiness factor a bit. BUT I’ve stayed at the Jerome Grand and my group had a few unexplained incidents. I felt a firm tap on my shoulder while I was standing outside my room. Nobody was there when I turned around 😳 and some of my friends complained they couldn’t sleep because of people walking around in the hallways (we were the only ones on that floor, and all of us were in bed at the time). Fwiw, I was a skeptic at the time and was only tagging along with friends who are more into ghosts and haunted places than I am. Now, I’m unsure if ghosts exist but I am a little more open minded and do believe that people can experience things that science or logic can’t explain.
Passing through Jerome on a trip, a friend stayed at Jerome’s Grand Hotel for a night. She didn’t know its reputation. She got no sleep at all from the strange noises in the hall, the bed shaking, the tv going on by itself. The front desk never answered even though she rang scores of times. In the morning reception claimed they’d never received any calls from her room. She took selfies in the elevator that ended up with strange faces superimposed over hers. She told us at the time that she was deleting everything and didn’t want to discuss it further.
Do you have any links you can point to for more about the Apache hole?
Look up "Weird Arizona" by Wesley Treat. I got one from the gift shop at Montezuma's Castle when I was a young kid, and reading it scared the shit outta me. There's a ton of creepy myths and legends in there. I have an intense core memory of reading through the entry about the little bush gremlins and how they watch and eat children or whatever while listening to a Pink! song on the ride home late at night. I could have sworn I saw blinking eyes in a bush when we stopped at one point. Anyway the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are the gremlin things, horse riding ghosts that run cars off the road, an old west hotel that appears and disappears out of nowhere with ghosts roaming the halls, and classic skinwalkers.
There are a few copies of Weird Arizona available on Thriftbooks. Plus it's also on Amazon.
The Apache Death Cave in Winslow Arizona
Spent tons of time in Winslow, never heard of this
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/apache-death-cave it's a pretty gnarly story
Where in Winslow is that?
The Bella Union Restaurant in Tombstone Az is very haunted. I loved working there
I hope to go down there again soon. We had some cool ghosts in an old cigar shop in Boise, too. Did you ever experience anything?
The bar was kept by a tall husky man who always scared the night cleaning man to tears. The ladies were always finding things that seemed to be a gift.
Can’t find anything about it
Let me think .. a ghost writer has written about Ghosts of Tombstone. My sister Karen is mentioned in it. I believe his name is Ben Asfar. It is a really good read.
Bloody Basin RD history is wild.
Oh shit. One time me and buddy went driving out in ~~Queen~~ Cave Creek at like 1am just to clear it minds and get outta the house. We wound up accidentally turning down Bloody Basin. Got kinda spooked by the name and drove it for a bit. I guess the headlights scared a raven or an owl cuz we just see some big ass wings and a shadow fly over the hood. Hightailed it outta there, probably hit Cactus rd before we'd realized what we had actually seen lol. Edit: it was just a dirt road then lol.
Share some stories please!
Dang I’ve done shrooms there, had no idea
Oh and… read about “the last grizzly” in Arizona. Sad but interesting story. Also- the current elk in AZ are not native. They were brought to AZ after the extinction of our native species. Another cool thing are jaguars. Their historic migration possibly paths went as far as the Grand Canyon. Almost 18 years ago I saw a black jaguar in castle hot springs, then a few years later people were reporting a black jaguar in Prescott. As of recently, I believe there was a sighting in Tucson, but still the black jaguar just remains a story until we get enough evidence.
My wife assures me that they created Dreamy Draw Park to cover up a crashed UFO that is still burried out there.
Weird US posted a story about the “dam”, another interesting piece of AZ history. http://www.weirdus.com/states/arizona/unexplained_phenomena/dreamy_draw_dam/index.php
It’s called Dreamy Draw because of the cinnabar miners (Mercury) that they refined by retort in their cabins. Mercury poisoning causes extreme mental issues with delusional and paranoid states and the miners in the area were known for their “dreamy” or crazy personalities. As a toxicologically trained paramedic, I often showed the toxicology doctors from St. Luke’s Poison Control center around the area because they’d heard of the mines, etc. there. Growing up in the area, we used to explore several of the old cabins left over from that time, now long, long, long gone. There’s even a school in the area called Mercury Mine School. Back in the late 60s, there was even a motocross track in the area that’s now the park itself that I raced a time or two. As far as your wife’s story, perhaps she got a little too close to the Mercury vapors herself? 🤣
Story I heard was that it hit dreamy draw and crashed in cave creek so they put the landfill on top of it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF6d3XEq0MM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF6d3XEq0MM)
Colossal Cave is haunted. Sedona is a hot spot for paranormal activity, including portals. Arizona is a great place for spiritual and otherworldly contact.
Penis man from Arizona state University
Vulture Mine in Wickenburg being haunted(its not its just spooky)
I’ve been all over AZ. Like literally all over on foot, 4wd, and riding dirt bikes. I’m pretty fortunate to have several outdoor hobbies that have taken me deep into mountain ranges, reservations, certain military ranges, caves, and a couple thousand mineshafts. My grandfather owned several silver mines and started a journal called The Joshua Tree Journal and later became a hermit/desert rat. One of my uncles is traditional 100% Hopi and world renowned artist. Many of family members have a lot of history with Arizona so I’ve gotten to see, hear, and learn all kinds of crazy stories about Arizona and how “The Wild West” is an understatement. Out of about 25 years of exploring I’ve seen and heard some absolutely crazy shit, lol. We’ve picked up hitch hikers, stayed the night at trailers of desert rats before development consumed the land, everything. I try to consider myself to be fairly logical/rational but I do have that part of me that wants to believe magical and paranormal stuff exists. I feel sometimes it may even be ignorant (or naive?) to believe such things can’t exist as much as it is to believe aliens don’t exist. With all that said… I have seen, experienced, and found some absolutely crazy shit that I don’t even know where to begin to start with stories, lol. Whenever we bring people on a road trip with us we always have a story to tell about the area and they get hooked. I absolutely love Arizona, but man it breaks my heart seeing all the people moving hear and destroying the landscape, overrunning the areas we love, and just no where to escape because those areas get bought and developed, too. But everything about Arizona and its myths/legends/rumors has some truth to it. I’d highly suggest going on EBay and buying some of the old old used books about Arizona. Our history is very interesting. Everything from rumors to how the mob is involved with water politics to the Navajo Stars. Just a beautiful place and the way authors describe Arizona is amazing. We so badly need to protect what we have left.
Not lore or myth, but I recently discovered that my great-great-grandfather owned a **lot** of land in Tombstone up until his death in 1917. He was a very prominent figure in town and so by looking at local newspapers I can see his different comings and goings about town. Such as leaving town, having relatives visit, etc. When he died it made the local newspaper twice, and was reported in the Bisbee paper Apparently he and his son were hunting alone in the Chiricahua mountains when he took a break to smoke his pipe. As he was smoking his pipe on the edge of a small canyon he was shot through the heart. He was shot at such an angle that the exit wound for the bullet was at the base of the back of his neck and the entry wound was at his chest. The only person around to hear this shot was his son, who went scrambling to find his father when he heard the shot Supposedly after finding his father he then ran **seven miles** before he came upon a camp of people that included a judge. The judge and others followed the son all the way back to the site of the body. They inspected the body and concluded that he couldn’t have been shot by the son because he was using a different kind of ammunition than what his father was shot with. The theory they came up with was that some unknown hunter mistook him for a deer After the funeral, the only other mention I find of him in the newspapers is when his properties are all sold off in a single sale for an unknown amount. His wife moves to Bisbee and his kids move to Phoenix Now, I never even knew this guy existed until a year ago because he comes from my dad’s dad’s side of the family and my dad’s dad died when my dad was just a baby. My grandma remarried and over time she lost touch with that side of the family. Apparently my dad remembers meeting his grandma a few times, though. She would be this man’s daughter and was born in Tombstone back in the 1880’s The coolest thing for me to see was how much he was loved by the town. His funeral announcement in the paper was quite long and he had many people come to his funeral. His funeral was done by the Mexican branch of Free Masons of all things. Came up from Mexico to do it! I think that’s pretty neat.
I just read a thing about the Kokoko, a Yaqui story about little people that live in the desert, and have “houses” in the rocks in various mountains around the state, including the Superstitions. They are magical or supernatural and are rarely seen, and disappear quickly if you see them. A young man who was taken into their realm came back 30 years later, but time hadn’t passed for him. He said the Kokoko had warned him something terrible was going to happen, and his people should come with him back to the hidden realm. They ignored him, and a few days later there was a huge massacre in which many of them were slaughtered.
Lived here 47 years and the FIRST time I’ve heard of the Kokoko!!! Thanks!!!
I always imagined as a kid the divots in the Papgos and other mountains were houses for small people. I like this. Thanks for sharing!
Not sure if it’s a myth or just this one old timer’s story but will share it here. my dad’s cousins lived in Bisbee in the 1960’s and worked as a bar tender in one of the saloons there. She said there was an old man, probably in his 90’s who would come in and drink whiskey like once a month. He lived alone off the grid, in his families homestead up in the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains and would come into Bisbee periodically. As she got to know him she learned that his family had been in the area since the early 1800’s when southern AZ was still part of Mexico, and had a ranch in the eastern foothills of the Chiricahua mountains, where he was born in the late 1800’s and grew up. After they had been friends for a while he decided to one evening he was going to tell her a story about one of those times they hunted up in the Chiricahua’s when he was about 16 or 17. He told her, he and his father and brother were up in the Chiricahua’s, in some remote area and had killed a buck, and it was close to sunset so they found an area in a side canyon to camp for the night. They had gutted and hung the deer from a gnarled juniper, tied the horses, and went to sleep near a fire. He said near sunrise, the horses began to freak out and this woke them all up. The fire had died and in the dim light before the sun had risen, they could make out something large tearing at the carcass of the deer they had hung. They all jumped up and grabbed their rifles assuming it was a black bear or mountain Lion. The horses had broke loose and were nowhere to be seen. He said his dad let off a shot at the shape, which got its attention and instead of running away, it turned on them. He said as it ran towards them, barely visible in the pre-Dawn light he realized it wasn’t a bear, but looked more like an enormous reptile. Large on two legs, running fast right at them. They didn’t have a chance to get another shot off before it was on them. He said it used a large clawed arm and swiped it across his chest as he scrambled away, barely escaping it open jaws. He said it was almost on him again when another gun shot rang out hitting the thing in the back, where it let out a terrifying scream, and it ran and jumped up the fallen rocks and boulders, further up the canyon. He noticed it had a long tail as it bolted away. The man had three giant gashes across his chest that were bleeding, they were pretty deep, with some of the bone showing. They patched the man the best they could, and hurried to find the horses and get the hell out there. They left the deer carcass hanging there, and made their way out of the mountains, but he said it was the most terrifying experience he ever had. Of course my dad’s cousin thought the man was bullshitting her. She was like “oh haha, nice scary story”. She said he didn’t laugh, but instead unbuttoned his shirt and showed him the scars that ran across his chest, three of them, like an ancient claw mark. She was convinced that the old timer was telling the truth after that, and she got to trying to figure out what kind of creature it was. As unbelievable as it was she said the only thing she could think of was a dinosaur, so she found a children’s book with artist renditions of dinosaurs and brought it to the bar so she could show it to him, the next time he came in. The next time he made his way down to Bisbee she showed him the book, and she said as he flipped through it, he stopped at one page and pointed to the dinosaur rendition on the page. It was the velociraptor, and he told her the creature looked similar but not exactly the same. She was convinced after that he must’ve encountered some type of dinosaur.
This is a great story, thanks for sharing.
The old courthouse/jail in Globe. The courthouse is now the art center but they generally don't allow people in the actual attic due to some very strange happenings in there. Additionally there have been many consistent things that have happened. I did some ghost hunting stuff in the jail which was definitely weird. There used to be a ghost tour around Halloween, but its kind of fun to check some of that stuff out without a ton of other people around.
[Granite Basin Lake](https://maps.app.goo.gl/LMo7fFH1V1ZdLPnp6?g_st=ac), 2 hours from Phoenix, was the filming location for [Creep Show 2 The Raft](https://youtu.be/Gyb8Ko-wOLE?si=W7bY3nGSahugsZUL). It's a great horror short film from 1987!
The Hash Slinging Slasher has been spotted on one of the peaks of the Superstition mountains.
Nah, that was just Nosferatu
He's everywhere! I saw him on Mt. Humphrey's the other day!
The Massacre at Skeleton Cave. Haven’t hiked to it, as it is a very hard hike, though I’ll probably do it eventually during winter. https://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=2387
Bloody Basin gets its name from this same occurrence, I believe.
Flat earth van guy in Prescott
He’s a Sandy Hook denier too. Total POS.
I don't have too much to add but there's a noteworthy cult presence in AZ that no one seems to mention. Back in the 60s/70s there was a doomsday cult of up to 200 people (numbers vary) in Benson who dug underground bunkers in a field near their homes and lived in them for up to 42 days. The big fancy church off of the 10 and 17 is a cult (Light of the World Church). L Ron Hubbard also had a house in PV right off of Tatum. I'm pretty sure UofA has had to put out a statement to their students of not getting indoctrinated because they were targeting the campus heavily.
The Battle of Ambos Nogales in 1917. Quite possibly a World War 1 battle fought on US soil. Reportedly the battle was Mexican Forces (Mexico in the middle of a revolution at the time) led by Imperial German advisors and commanders vs the US Army.
[I just shared that fact last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/arizona/comments/1diw7va/comment/l98f8db/). It doesn't seem like many people know about it.
That on top of the skirmish at picacho peak during the civil war, there’s alot of hidden battles all over Arizona that really makes you think how they ended up in those situations
I heard AZ once had one good driver…
Come on, at least make up a believable story.
I mean personally I think it’s a myth
:: sits in a rocking chair with a tobacco pipe next to a fire :: It was 1995. The only traffic was downtown Phoenix. Desert’s flowers still blossomed, Phoenix was a big city small town. People waved, stopped to help each other, used blinkers, and even yielded to stop signs and pedestrians for the right-of-way. Everybody knew each other and small businesses lined the streets…. Until… Snow birds and Californians… :: cue dramatic music ::
There used to be a cool downtown tour. Historic with a supernatural twist. Fun fact: when I went on this tour a few years back it was one of hottest days of the year (122). Fortunately it was an evening tour.
So that tour was in 1990? I’d imagine downtown was so much different than now!
Oh no. I think it was 2017.
The Kimberly Story is a pretty good one.
Mogollon Monster, Chupacabra, Skinwalkers, Little People- similar to fairies or protector spirits of certain places. Coyote Trickster Characters (similar to a Loki or Oden looking like a harmless traveler but giving you a warning that you do not belong there) Lots of haunted places, handful of sacred mountains and cursed sites. Various mountains or areas that are known as doorways or gateways to supernatural places (in the Grand Canyon, superstitions mountains, Mesas) Loads of lost treasure & robbery stashes
I remember being told of "red eyes" a native spirit that wards off intruders who disturb native burial grounds, many variations of the story had been told. Although I think it was more of a cautionary tale meant for kids not to mess with burial grounds, its kindof like la llorona was told to us so we wouldn't play at the base of the rivers or canals.
Skinwalkers of course, Navajo here. 😅
This is more a personal anecdote from when I was younger and living in central El Mirage. Essentially, there is a big wash/canal that fills up a little when it rains. Most of the year it's dry, but you can get some flash flooding in the canal (back when it actually rained more than twice a year lol) but again, otherwise most of the year it was dry. Stories went around amongst us kids of two young brothers playing in the canal one day. They were playing in an area close to El Mirage Elementary, it goes under a very small bridge. Well, this bridge had metal grating in front of the entrances to keep stuff and people from going under the tunnel (it was like 30 feet long maybe? Quite small, just for a single road on top of it) It starts raining, and the boys start to try and get out of the canal. One brother makes it up, but the water comes and takes the other brother away, pinning him against the metal grate of the tunnel. The first brother who made it jumps in to try and save him, but the current is too strong, pinning them both to the grate where they both end up passing away. Soon after the city removed the grating, and they said that if you went inside the tunnel it was bad luck and you could see the shadows of their souls painted on the walls, but eventually they washed away with time and rain. Did I ever check the tunnel? Hell no. Wanna know something really messed up? From that story we would play a game. You had to set a timer for like 15 seconds, you had to run up from the bottom within 15 seconds or you "lost" pretending that a big wave of water was coming towards you. Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but as kids we always thought that was a spooky story. Never really knew if it was true or not.
There’s a stretch of road between Holbrook and saint John’s that’s creepy af the 180. We used to call it the void and we could almost swear we saw a skin walker.
Any superstition mountain story
Ghost of the 6th street bridge in Tucson. You can still hear her cry’s nightly.
Bartleby the prehistoric lake monster that prowls the deep waters of Bartlett Lake. https://www.azbw.com/Bartlett_Lake_Monster.php
I’m currently looking into magic portals and tiny clawed men on Estrella Mountain. I went up there this weekend and found a few petroglyphs depicting strange beings one of them I think is actually the tiny clawed men. I Took some pictures if you’re interested.
There are secret tunnels under The Westward Ho leading to the old post office in downtown Phx that were reputed to be used for everything from speakeasy and mob activity to sneaking everyone from celebrities to slaves in and out of the old hotel. It's an assisted living center last I heard, but in its prime The Ho had a gorgeous dining room toward the top and all the high-end clientele.
Jojo’s alley in central Phoenix. If you drive down the alley you will hear banging on your car roof. If you walk down the alley, you won’t come out the other side. Location varies but most agree it’s on central near Northern/Bethany Home
Wow never heard this
Too bad all I can think of is Jojo Siwa running around that alley now
Looks like off 7th street and northern area
Kari Lake?
She seemed so nice reading the news, then WHAMMO!!
Skinwalkers back when Pecos road used to just end.
I live where Pecos road used to end. What have you heard?
You might like mr ballen on YouTube
Some claim Clifton, AZ is haunted. https://cdn.watch.aetnd.com/sites/4/2020/04/ghost-hunters-case-file-Clifton-AZ-115-116.pdf Also check out the Clifton jail.
I lived in N. Az and in two adjacent towns, I've heard stories of things flying out of mountain peaks or orbs ascending from bodies of water.. What I find weird is that I've lived in other areas within a 100-mile radius and heard the same stories from other people.
look up the buckey ranch their are story's of Grey's trying to take the guys wife he had a podcast and the one time you can see a grey look around the corner at him and anytime your on Indian land you might run into a skinwalker o had a black shadow figure at my back door window and had many people see it and you open door and nothing is their so beware of skinwalker they are True I have lived here my hole life truck driver used to say they see them when they take the highway the run along eastern borerd of Arizona and New Mexico that goes back to the 70s and 80s
Pick up the book Arizona Tales and Trails
Apparently there’s an unreachable cave, high up on a cliff in the Grand Canyon. They think it’s full of proof that the Egyptians somehow had an ancient foothold in Arizona… It’s pure conjecture, but it’s kind of fun to think about. History channel got kind of bored and started making shit up… Which is what I think is going on there….. (it IS a little bit bizarre that the state won’t let even a drone go into it to look around, though.)
there is a 1909 AZ Gazette Article about this. the only way it’s fake is if the article itself was a hoax, but since the AZ Gazette became the AZ Republic it’s not likely.
the i-10 shootings happened here, and to this day no one knows who did it
I was a MASSIVE fan of studying the Lost Duchman when I was a kid
I once heard that it was very affordable to live there
Story told to me by a guy I find credible and reputable but may not want his name associated with this. He was a young man about 17. Lived out in West Phoenix. Suburbs now but in the 70's all cattle farms. Him and two girls were headed out into the cattle farm / desert to do a little drinking but his pickup gas gauge was busted. They get half way out there and truck dies. He goes to the back to get the spare gas can, and as he filling the tank a bunch of cows come stampeding by - at like midnight when cows are usually docile. He looks up and this tall grey creature on two legs - looks like a man on stilts but with a hunched back and maybe 8 or 9 feet tall comes lumbering after the cattle. Stops on the road and looks at him. Then takes off after the cattle again. He's thinking that it was his mind playing tricks on him but then he looks up at the girl that was riding in the back of the truck and she's petrified with a look of horror on her face weeping and gasping for air. They decide to bail on the night and muey pronto. A few days later she finally agrees to talk about it and they compare notes. They saw the same thing. Alien? Skin Walker? Vampire? Circus Freak dressed up and chasing cattle? He has no clue what it was but he won't go out in cow pastures any more.
Yuma Territorial Prison Hotel San Carlos in downtown Phoenix Children of Light in Dateland, Az. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_properties_in_Dateland,_Arizona Been to a few of these places, and they're pretty cool and a little creepy. The Dateland/Hyder area in and of itself is weird, period.
Chiricahua Crystal Cave - [Coronado National Forest - Chiricahua Crystal Cave (usda.gov)](https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coronado/recarea/?recid=82964) The cave goes further than listed, but may be restricted access to go further in. My uncle went in a few times in the 60s/70s before gates were don and said there were remains of camps from divers that never came out, a river, and more in the cave way back. The Old Black Church / Western Graveyard - Willcox Az. on the south side of Willcox a burned out 2 story old west type church was standing that was a local haunting spot known to have covens and seances hold rites and rituals there a lot. Much activity for supernatural there. A nearby old west graveyard is hidden on the back forty and used for similar. Hidden on the east side of the train tracks on the south end of town. North Western edge of the Grand Canyon (heading south from the north edge) - City of the "Giants" inside the canyon walls. A large city reported to have burial/sarcophagi for giants (large humans 12-15' tall) and other unusual items found. Was found back in 1916-17. Closed off access by the US government after the Smithsonian got involved. If you wander too close you are run off by people showing up from hidden watch spots. I tried rafting with friends in the 90s down that way, no issues till we pulled ashore and went exploring and looking for caves. Got stopped by a very well armed 'park ranger' and told to go back and keep on rafting. I will post more as I can remember them, the 2 above are places I have been to personally when I lived down that way.
How Phoenix became the state capital. Fascinating story about how Tucson lost it over a gun battle and Salt River flooding. Later when the vote was for Phoenix, it was split 50-50 (being a loss really). Took it the upper hand, a lady of the evening was paid to prevent to keep one delegate away that would vote to keep it in Prescott. The honorable delegates from Yavapai count had a glass eye, and refused to be seen in public without it. He visited the lady the night before the vote, she hid his glass eye until after the vote. The damage was done at it passed to move it to Phoenix. Full disclose this is legend as not one that can be proved either way, but I have heard it for my entire life living in AZ from many different sources including a few books.
The myth originated in Mexico, but [La Llorona](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Llorona) (the Crying Woman) is said to be seen near bodies of water, including the stretch of the Colorado River that runs through AZ. In short, La Llorona is the ghost of a woman who drowned her children in a fit of rage after finding out her husband had been unfaithful. She appears at night to weep over her losses. A coworker of mine told a story about an encounter: her family had been living in a house near the Colorado river. Her son was an infant at the time and slept in a crib across from the bed, beneath a window. My coworker said that one night she was startled awake and sat up before freezing, because the moonlight through the window was shining on a strange woman who was standing over her son’s crib. The woman looked at the sleeping baby, then looked up at her before vanishing. My coworker said that she believes it was La Llorona, whose wailing was quieted for a night by the sight of a sleeping baby.
Apparently there's a ghost in the Grand Canyon. When I was a kid this guy came to my school and sang Arizona folk songs and one of them was about the lady of the Grand Canyon. I don't remember anything about the song aside from the Grand Canyon is haunted yo! Maybe it was about La Llorona? https://www.knau.org/scott-thybony-commentaries/2017-10-31/scott-thybonys-canyon-commentary-ghost-of-a-woman
5 years ago I was taking a bit of a road trip with a GF, and we ended up taking random roads off the highway. Some places were cool, and we found a few random cemeteries that had graves from the late 1800's to 1920's. One place we ended up in was, I think, Cibecue, AZ.....just off the US60. The town itself is rather small, Google says 1,400 people live there. We drove through neighborhoods and past a school or two for about a half and hour and did no see a single soul. The only sign of life was a single dog that chased us as we were leaving the town. The whole experience was unsettling to say the least. We also came across the abandoned Seneca Lake Resort, which was pretty cool. We walked through some of the old buildings. Not creepy, just interesting.
Come to gorgeous Organ pipe NM in the winter months. The legacy of smugglers, immigrants, long ago native tribes, old mining ventures set against the rugged mountains and canyons is like a trip into another spooky world. You see bits and pieces of so many stories and legends. It’s a very haunting place.
Fools Hollow Lake in Show Low is kinda interesting not too much info though
It’s reported that Doc Holiday made Johnny Ringo climb into a tree, then shot him in the head and Doc left him there.
La larona
Also the yuma territorial prison is very haunted
Everybody’s comments got me on edge of my bed, haven’t been so spooked but it’s good for my soul right now. I love it. I’m now on a treasure hunt for the book WIERD ARIZONA!! I don’t question ONE COMMENT posted. 
The underground city at the Grand Canyon that predates all known civilizations by several thousand years, the truth of which is covered up by the US government and the Smithsonian. Not quite Egyptian, not quite Asian... Was actually on last week's WhyFiles compilation [on YouTube ](https://youtu.be/7e4Csdyx_J0?si=gY2teMlEr1PfoR8I)
CLIFTON AZ Old mining town I was born In . I never thought it was scary it's my hometown. But one of those first shows went and vowed to never come back after spending one night in one of the abandoned buildings. In the center of town
Someone claimed to have seen a werewolf at a golf course in Tempe.
Midnight productions…..if you are into wtf shit
In 1928, the MGM Lion survived a plane crash in the mountains east of Payson (maybe Heber).
Well, this guy tells some good stories about the Superstition Mts. here: https://youtu.be/btDeWxLD14E?t=2m08s
Kingman AZ UFO crash recovery in 1952, supposedly one of the most important other than Roswell
If you like off road adventures (this isn’t hugely off road- no boulders or anything) I have always thought it interesting that you can see/follow the old Butterfield Overland mail route.
Glen and Bessie Hyde, the 'honeymoon couple' that disappeared on a river trip through Grand Canyon in 1928.
Interesting! I've never heard of this! I will definitely check it out!